Besiktas face a tough challenge keeping hold of on-loan attacking midfielder Anderson Talisca if the latest reports in Portugal are to be believed.
Talisca has excelled at Besiktas over the past two seasons.
The 24-year-old played an important role in the Black Eagles lifting the league title last season and has already scored 16 goals this term.
It is perhaps little surprise that Talisca is receiving growing interest.
A Bola report that Manchester United want the powerful midfielder and would be willing to spend as much as €40 million.
Per the source, Jose Mourinho has ‘reserved’ the player at a cost of up to €40 million.
Mourinho is a long-term admirer of Talisca, in fact he was involved in a public spat with former Benfica manager Jorge Jesus over who discovered Talisca first.
Speaking to Portuguese broadcaster TVI24 [via Daily Mail] in 2014, Mourinho said: “I think Benfica hired well. They say Talisca is unknown, but he is only so unknown because he’s only not playing in England because he doesn’t have a work permit. If he had one, he would be here!
“There were many English teams, great teams and important, that wanted him. Moreover, there were those who wanted to sign him, even though he could not play for now.
“They wanted to sign him, put him in a minor league [on loan] and hope that eventually he came to be selected [for Brazil’s national team], and would consequently then get the work permit.”
The report claims that negotiations are way underway and Talisca was part of Brazil’s latest national team call-up.
Should he make the World Cup squad it would ease the process of getting a work permit to play in the Premier League.
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Permit system for non-EU players
According to the FA: Required % of international matches over previous 24 months is determined by the player’s National Association’s official FIFA ranking:
FIFA 1-10: 30% and above
FIFA 11-20: 45% and above
FIFA 21-30: 60% and above
FIFA 31-50: 75% and above
Reference period reduced to 12 months for those players aged 21 or under at time of application.
Talisca was also closely linked with United over the summer and admitted that he would like to work with Mourinho.
“I have a lot of respect for Jose Mourinho, he is an amazing manager and I have always said I would love to work with Mourinho,” Talisca said.
“I do not want to get into this debate about an offer being made or not, let’s just say if I were to receive that kind of offer you would all know about it.”
